It is known to add on a ski a platform for elevating the bindings of the boot, in the form of an elevating plate which is added in the binding mounting area and on the upper surface of the ski via a layer of material having shock-absorbing properties, typically a layer of visco-elastic material.
"Elevating platform" is understood to mean a platform providing effective elevation of the bindings, and therefore formed by a plate whose total thickness, including that of the intermediate visco-elastic layer, is greater than 5 millimeters.
Such elevating plates are now necessary due to the present reduction, at the level of the binding mounting area, of the width of modern downhill skis, one consequence of which is a risk of the ski skidding in a tight bend, as the boot, which projects laterally, then touches the snow whenever contact of the edge is great. With a sufficient superelevation, there is virtually no longer any risk of the boot contacting the snow whenever the ski inclines considerably to the side, and the ski may therefore be used normally, particularly in slalom.
Apart from these functions of elevation of the boot and of damping the vibrations, this elevating plate presents, or may present, interesting additional functions, such as, maintaining bendability of the ski.
In fact, in order to hold the skier's boot, the front stop and the heel of the binding system exert opposing thrusts on the rigid sole of the boot, which has for its effect to bend and rigidify the ski, therefore to modify the behavior thereof during skiing. This tension due to the springs of the binding exerts a moment of force which, without an intermediate plate, bends the ski. In that case, the bindings therefore tend to modify the characteristics of the ski, which is a drawback, as the camber of the ski came under particular study when each ski was designed by the manufacturer. With the elevating plate, the forces due to the bindings are then exerted on this plate which is sufficiently rigid that the plate does not retransmit the forces to the structure of the ski.
On the other hand, for all-purpose skis for example, the plate may be designed in order, in rest position, to exert a pre-tension at each end by two screw-adjustable stops, thus generating an effect of adjustment of the camber of the ski as a function of the weight of the skier or his/her technical level.
The plate may also improve precision of the ski.
It is a particular object of the present invention to improve the transmission of the forces between the binding, supported by the platform, and the edges, or lower lateral arrises, of the ski or like snow board. In addition, the present invention proposes a ski incorporating an elevated platform and side edge elements, for which the means for supporting this platform is made simply and harmoniously as it blends with the very structure of the ski, virtually integrating therewith while eliminating the parasitic effects of the intermediate elements.